Check out Tonight’s Western Sky

If the weather is good and the sky is clear and you have not arrived at the Fair yet, stop and look west.

At dusk on August 11th, 12th and 13th around 8:30 PM to 8:45PM pause and take a moment to gaze into the western sky (toward Winchester — if you are in Berryville) to see an amazing natural occurrence.

Watch the sky towards Winchester over the next three nights around 8:30pm

Three planets and the moon will cluster together. Venus (brightest) Saturn (next brightest) Mars (faint and red) and then on the 12th and 13th the crescent moon will join the trio.

My star watching friends use various apps, one on the iPhone is pUniverse or there is a web site www.astroviewer.com where you can check out.

Meteor Viewing Update:

According to Stardate.org (http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/) the Perseids meteor show will begin on the night of August 12. The Moon is just a couple of days past new at the shower’s peak, so there will be no moonlight to interfere with the faint meteors. The shower should reach its peak in the hours after midnight (before dawn on August 13), with a maximum of a few dozen meteors visible per hour.